Brigadier General Mohammad Hossein Sepehr made the remarks in a commemoration ceremony held for 240 martyrs of Khomein in Markazi province.

'The connection which exists between religion, leadership and people in Iran had made the Islamic Republic powerful towards the hegemonic powers; people's presence in support of the Islamic Republic in different occasions, including the Iraq 8-year imposed war, the West's cultural invasion, sanctions and pressures resulted in the victory of Tehran over its enemies.'

The commander noted that the Zionists are behind all anti-Islam plots and have a leading role in such activities around the world.

'Nation would defy the enemy's new plots and pressures.'

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed the West's demand as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanction and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.

Political observers believe that the United States has remained at loggerheads with Iran mainly over the independent and home-grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the potential to turn into a world power and a role model for other Third World countries. Washington has laid much pressure on Iran to make it give up the most sensitive and advanced part of the technology, which is uranium enrichment, a process used for producing nuclear fuel for power plants.